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The City of Magnolia recently implemented its first comprehensive plan, while also growing and expanding its boundaries in 2012. With that plan now in full swing and money problems a thing of the past; the city hosted a review of the past year, Magnolia on the Move, Jan. 8.

"Getting this plan was huge," Magnolia's Economic Development Coordinator Deborah Rose Miller said. "It gives us a roadmap for the future, taking into consideration the entire infrastructure, along with desires of our community partners."

Miller presented the program, along with Paul Mendes, Magnolia's city administrator.

The pair talked about the city's recently expanded extra-territorial jurisdiction, along with the recent triple-a-minus bond rating from Standard & Poor, as well as the city's budget surpluses, saying that it all was proof that Magnolia was clearly focused on the future and putting issues of the past in the rearview mirror.

The number one priority for the city in the future will be transportation and connectivity. Because transportation and connectivity are crucial to the city, its participation in the year-old 249 Partnership, a regional coalition dedicated to the improvement of SH 249, was also highlighted. Mendes was recently named vice chair of the coalition.

The comprehensive plan also outlines a new town center, which Miller said points to continued growth in Magnolia, adding that after the recent Walgreen's opening, more chain stores are expected to follow.

Kendig Keast Collaborative, an urban planning firm in Sugar Land, has been working with the city on its comprehensive plan for a year. Capturing more than five miles in the city's ETJ was just one parallel goal of the plan.

Other accomplishments reviewed at Magnolia on the Move included the utility relocation project along FM 1774, which has readied the city for roadway expansion by the Texas Department of Transportation in progress now, and the fly-over at FM 1488 and FM 149 that is expected to be under construction in 2014. In addition a fly-over at FM 1774 and FM 1488 is expected to be completed in 2015.

Lastly, the report congratulated the Magnolia Community Foundation on giving the city an annual  "branding" event, the Magnolia Love Bug Festival. The June festival along with events on the Magnolia Stroll was praised for bringing visitors to the city throughout the year. Moreover, the city's partnership with the Texas Renaissance Festival, now in its second year, was credited with filling Magnolia motels for more than nine weeks last year.

Parents of students in Magnolia were a bit on edge last week, after receiving a phone call from the district stating that a student had brought a weapon to school.

Magnolia ISD officials said that they received information that a student at J.L. Lyon Elementary was in possession of a weapon, Jan. 9.

"Staff quickly recovered an unloaded firearm without incident," the district said in a written statement. "No ammunition was found in the student's possession nor was there any evidence of intent to use the weapon on campus."

School officials would provide no other information besides what was contained in the statement. The Tribune put in a public information request asking the district to release what punishment the student will face, without identifying the student. Magnolia ISD was still examining that request as of press time.

Parents at the school said the incident was disturbing.

"I got a phone call, it was a recording, telling me a kid had a gun on my daughter's campus," said Cathy House. "I was talking about it with my mother and my daughter came in. She had no idea that it happened while she was at school."

House said her daughter told her she saw police at her school.

"It's scary, especially with what happened in Connecticut," House said.

Cpt. Glenn Arnold with the Montgomery County Pct. 5 Constable's Office, the agency responsible for school security, said students were not in danger.

"(The gun) was unloaded, recovered and secured within moments of being notified," he said. "It wasn't anything with a malicious intent; the kid was just trying to show off as kids sometimes tend to do."

The district added that they are "committed to providing a safe environment for all students and will continue to work with parents and law enforcement to achieve this goal."

The student was transported to a juvenile facility, where he was expected to see a judge last Friday, according to Arnold.

After 70 years of marriage, neither Loyd nor Betty Hunter has lost the initial spark either had when first meeting each other decades ago.

Sitting in the hallway of Tomball Retirement Center holding hands, the two talked about their life together and how they ended up in south Texas.

"I was working in my sister's grocery store, a little country store in Van Buren, Ark.," Loyd said. "(Betty) came in and asked of we carried something or another and I told her we didn't. She told me 'aww, you wouldn't even know if you did'."

Loyd, a self-described Arkansas hillbilly, was soon shipped off to Battle Creek, Mich. by the army, in preparation for World War II, while his sweetheart moved to the Houston area with her family.

The two got married – "my marriage license cost me a whole $3, Loyd said – and Loyd prepared for service as a military police officer.

"My mother wrote to (President Franklin D.) Roosevelt to ask him if he would send me to where my twin brother was stationed and he did it," Loyd said.

Loyd was shipped off to Lincoln, Neb., where he and his brother were cooks for the Army Air Corps.

"We stayed there for the duration of the war," he said.

After the war, Loyd moved to the Houston area to be with his bride, where he became a builder.

"I had a model park out on the East Tex Freeway," he said.

The couple would go on to raise four boys and three girls and now have a slew of grandchildren.

As for their longevity, Loyd says it is simple.

"She tells me what to do," he said. "We have had little fusses along the way, but we've really gotten along real well."

Five years ago the pair moved into the Tomball Retirement Center, where their caregivers that they are obviously still deeply in love.

"They still cuddle and sleep in the same bed," said caretaker Mary Middlebrook.

Caretaker Londa Osborne-Butler said that Loyd and Betty are still sharp witted and a funny pair.

"I always tease them about me taking (Loyd) out on a date and she always says 'ok just take him'," she said.

The couple sits regularly on a hallway couch holding hands – they call it waiting on the bus – and talking to workers and residents alike.

"She's my other half," Loyd says with a big smile.

Questions about red light cameras are once again being raised, after the Tomball City Council recently voted to extend the program for five more years.

City Councilman Field Hudgens was the lone dissenting vote on the issue and said that he prefers the issue be brought to a vote of the citizens.

"I wasn't questioning the legality or constitutionality of the cameras," he said. I want to see the issue decided by the voters of the city."

Opponents of the cameras have often cited privacy concerns and the lack of a clear criminal process as reason to oppose the cameras, while supporters say the numbers prove that the cameras work and that making the punishment merely a civil issue is easier on violators.

"Coming from California where the camera system was entirely punitive, where violations went on your record and you had fines in upwards of $400, I believe the system works better the way it is designed in Texas," Tomball Police Chief Robert Hauck said.

Numbers have shown that since the cameras were turned on, the number of traffic accidents has decreased tremendously.

Before the cameras were installed there were 626 accidents in the city. By 2010 that number had dropped to 322 – a decrease of 49 percent.

"Although red light cameras have contributed to the decrease, they are not the sole factor," said Tomball Police Cpt. Rick Grassi. "There are other reason that we call the three e's of traffic safety – engineering, education and enforcement."

Hauck said the revenue generated from the cameras has allowed the department to enhance other aspect of traffic safety, including adding sidewalks to heavily traveled routes.

"This program and the revenue generated from it has allowed us to enhance our traffic safety enforcement, without providing criminal penalties to violators," he said. "Every ticket an officer writes for a red light violation goes on your record and can cost hundreds of dollars in fines."

Grassi and Hauck said that the cameras are just a tool in the broader spectrum of traffic safety and unlike other cities; Tomball has not tried to turn it into a major revenue generator.

"The City of Tomball has never lost focus on the primary purpose of cameras, which is public safety, not financial compensation," Grassi said.

"We have never come back and tried to make this system into a cash cow by adding more cameras, even though our contract with the vendor says that we can," Hauck said

Hauck also said the cameras are just a part of a broader effort of traffic safety enforcement within the city.

"Adding things like the flashing lights in school zones is something we would not have been able to do," he said.

Hudgens said that he doesn't deny the numbers that support the cameras; however, he believes that the citizens have not been heard.

"It is a volatile topic and it should go to the citizens for a vote," he said.

In order for a vote to happen, a citizen led petition drive must occur, or the city council must agree and vote to add the issue to the ballot.

A complete remodel and overhaul is now complete at the Tomball Premiere Cinemas venue in the Four Corners shopping center at SH 249 and FM 2920.

The remodel was part of a complete renovation of the entire shopping center.

“It was gutted all the way down to the studs,” said Joel Davis, Premiere’s Chief Operating Officer and a Tomball native. “The construction team came in and did a great job. We are happy to see the entire center has come back.”

“The whole shopping center is turned inside-out,” said Tomball General Manager Jennifer Mendoza. “It’s amazing and something we can all be really proud of.”

New amenities in the theater include high-back rocking chairs, a new party room, 3D capability, two new lobbies and a state of the art concession area.

There is also a new auditorium, bringing the total number of screens available to seven.

The new theater has a 100 percent digital projector, which allows the theater more flexibility and better quality.

“It’s great technology,” Davis said. “It’s always in focus, can’t scratch it and it is never off frame.”

The technology allows for greater freedoms, especially during midnight movie premieres. If the theater sells out on a screen during a premeire, the movie can be loaded to another screen quickly, allowing another auditorium to be filled.

The theater, which was originally built in 1986, also has new food and beverage equipment, fresh-made cotton candy and a Dippin Dots ice cream cart. There are also several feet of self-service areas where guests can butter their own popcorn, among other things.

“People have driven here from miles away to get Dippin Dots already,” Mendoza said.

The theater is donating a portion of its grand opening proceeds to the Variety Children’s Charity of Texas, which helps special needs children throughout the state by providing funding for therapy, walkers, wheelchairs, prosthetic limbs among other experiences.

“It’s a great place for people to take their family,” Davis said. “There’s nothing like a good movie and some popcorn.”

For more information visit www.pccmovies.com.